Many Types of Heroes
by Perhapsormaybe
Summary: The Titans come to Bellwood during a sudden increase in hostile alien activity. Unfortunately, they don't make a great first impression. Will the Titans and the Alien Force get over their differences in time to figure out who the true villain is?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Yes, I know others have done Ben 10 Alien Force/Teen Titans crossovers. I have not read any of them. Mainly because I had some ideas on how to do this and I didn't want to be affected by anyone else's ideas. This is more of a study in the differences in their methods, and what each team could stand to learn from the other. Also because I think it's fun to do.

"Will someone _please_ trade me seats? Beastboy keeps getting drool on me," Raven complained, pushing the green dog out of her lap and back towards the window again.

The green dog shifted back into a short, scrawny, rather furry teen. "Sorry, Raven....but it makes these road trips so much more fun! You should try sticking your head out the window sometime, too. It's great!"

"I think I'll pass."

"So, Robin, what's the deal with this, anyways? Why do we have to head all the way across county?" Cyborg asked the now brooding teenager in the passenger's seat.

"This 'Bellwood' is too much of a hotspot for monster activity. I've been trying to ignore it, and deal with everything back home first, but it won't stop popping up on the radar. We need to figure out what's going on there and put a stop to it."

"You think it's this serious?" Raven asked. Robin contemplated before he answered.

"I don't know for sure, but how would we feel if we didn't check it out and the city got destroyed?"

"Yeah, but who's watching home for us?" Beastboy asked.

"Titans East," Cyborg answered on Robin's behalf. "They said they can handle things. They're going to stay in the tower for a few days."

"All I know is they better stay out of my room," Raven said, turning to look at Starfire, who was huddled over, asleep in the corner. "What happened to her? She's usually so...bouncy."

"Something about short term hibernation," Robin explained. "Apparently, on Tameran, they sleep for a few days once a year every year. She's been asleep since Tuesday. She should wake up tomorrow."

"Ooooh!" Beastboy said, finally cottoning on, "So that's why she was still asleep when you and Cyborg put her in here!"

"Wait..." Raven said slowly, "You saw them put her in here, asleep, and you didn't think to ask until just now?"

"....Didn't seem important."

* * *

"Yes! Summer vacation, here we come!" Ben said excitedly, throwing his backpack into the back of Kevin's camaro and climbing in after it.

"What part of it's a vacation? Alien reports have been flooding in, so that means patrol every day," Gwen pointed out.

"Well...yes, no homework for a few months!" He amended.

Kevin chuckled, and Gwen allowed herself a smile. "So, Kevin, how is this going to be any different for you?" Gwen asked. "I never see you with a backpack, and you never mention school..."

"I've got street smarts, don't need school," he said with a smirk.

"That explains why you didn't know the word 'rhetorical'," Ben added from the backseat.

"Hey! That was a high pressure situation, the word just...slipped from me," Kevin said, starting his car. "Anyways, shouldn't we be focusing on why so many aliens are suddenly showing up?"

"Aww, somebody wants a change of topic," Ben said, buckling himself in as the car took off.

"You have to admit it's weird..." Kevin addressed Gwen, choosing to just pretend Ben wasn't even there. "None of these aliens have badges, so they're not Plumber kids...and a lot have been hostile. Most alien life forms want to blend in, not stand out."

The change of topic allowed Ben to switch gears almost effortlessly into a more serious mind set. "Any idea what could be the cause?"

Kevin shook his head. "None. The worst part is the daytime attacks..."

"Yeah..." Ben nodded, a hand on his chin as he thought everything over. "That hasn't really happened since I was 10...they usually seemed to want to hide themselves."

"Most aliens do. Believe it or not, E.T.'s pretty much the standard for training on what Earth is like," Kevin said.

"Wait...E.T.?" Gwen asked, incredulous. "As in...the movie, E.T.?"

"Yeah," Kevin explained, "See, that movie is shown on a lot of planets to any alien who wants to go to Earth. So they assume if they're found out, the government will take them in and research on them. ...Also, that we think we're smarter than them and some of them come here just looking to try Skittles."

"...Really?" Ben asked.

Kevin laughed. "No, I made the Skittles part up...can't believe you fell for that, man. Maybe I should drive you back so you can do summer school courses..."

"Was any part of that true?" Gwen asked, eyeing Kevin skeptically.

"Yes, actually. The Incurgens knew better because they had me, and I explained to them anything they wanted about Earth...they didn't see a point in coming here until that Princess was nabbed...."

"So, the point of the story is that most aliens really don't want to be found out by humans," Ben said, fiddling with his seat belt strap. "But knowing that...why do so many keep on attacking?"

"And that, Ben," Kevin said, looking at him in the rear view mirror, "is your homework assignment for the summer."

"Aww, man, I hate doing schoolwork over summer breaks," Ben joked right back.

"It's up to you two," Kevin said, though it was Gwen he was really directing the question towards, "Do you want to start patrol now, or tonight?"

"Tonight," Ben answered for her. "I promised the soccer team I'd hang out with them, and I know you two had plans before the alien attacks started."

"Ben...are you sure?" Gwen asked, turning to face him. He smiled.

"Yeah, I'm sure. What could happen if we put off alien fighting for just a few hours?"

**Author's Note: **The E.T. thing was just something I thought up out of boredom, partially inspired by Futurama where the citizens of Omicron Persei-8 loved Allie McBeal (well, there it was titled "Single Female Lawyer" or something like that).


	2. Meet the Titans

**Author's note: **Someone commented on the fact that Greg Cipes voices Beastboy. Interesting fact - Ashley Johnson, who voices Gwen, was Terra in Teen Titans (so they've already got experience playing love interests to each other!). Manny was brought into this story partially because he shares a voice actor with Cyborg. Things like this amuse me.

"Wake up, Tennyson!" Ben jerked awake and stared up at Kevin's hulking form standing over him. "Get dressed. We gotta get going."

"How did you get in here?" Ben asked.

Kevin held up a metal hand, and Ben groaned.

"Is the door at least in one piece this time?"

"No," Kevin returned his hand to normal.

"I told you where the hide-a-key is, why don't you ever use it?"

"....It's more fun this way."

Ben groaned again and threw a pillow at the other boy, who allowed it to bounce off of himself harmlessly.

"You really need to get dressed, man. Gwen's waiting downstairs."

"What is she waiting for?" Ben asked as he finally got out of bed and pulled some pants over the boxers he had on.

"Umm....well..." Kevin rubbed the back of his neck, and Ben noted the ex con had a rather guilty expression on his face. "So, I knew Gwen was going to leave her badge behind when we went out...and I may have....left mine behind as well."

"You never go anywhere without your badge, Kevin. It's hard to believe you forgot it," Ben pointed out as he slipped his black shirt on and grabbed his favorite green jacket. He figured out what Kevin had done right as he was putting the jacket on. "Oh, man...Kevin....You left it behind on purpose, didn't you!"

"C'mon, Ben, we all needed a break last night. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything..."

"What if someone got hurt? You could have at least lent me your badge so that I could monitor everything!" Ben insisted.

"Yeah, okay, hindsight, I get it," Kevin said, crossing his arms. "But what's done is done and trust me, Gwen's already yelled at me over this. Point is, apparently a lot of aliens are wigging out, so we need to get outside and put a stop to it. You can lecture me later, all right?"

"All right," Ben agreed.

* * *

"Friends! It is a most glorious morning!" Starfire insisted as she stretched out, finally waking up from her hibernation. "What did I miss during the long sleep?....Where are we?"

"Bellwood," Robin said, studying the steady blips on the monitor of Cyborg's car's dashboard.

"Robin?" Raven started.

"Yeah?" He asked, not looking up.

"I don't think you need to be using that to find the monsters."

"Why do you say that?" He asked, still not looking up. In answer, Raven tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. Right across the way, a red monster with bright yellow eyes and four arms was wrestling with another monster that appeared to be a giant yellow ball of fur with nine long tentacles and eyes at the end of each.

"Titans, go!" Robin ordered. The teens left the shelter of their vehicle and raced towards the two monsters. The furry monster shrieked at the sight of them, but the four armed one refused to let go.

"Oh, no you don't ugly," he insisted, "You aren't going anywhere..."

"Hey!" Robin called. "What are you doing here?"

The four armed creature stared at Robin for a moment. It was all the furry monster needed - it wriggled a tentacle out of the four arm's reach and used it to sweep his legs out from under him. It then picked the four arm up and began to squeeze him.

"What do we do?" Beastboy asked. "I don't know who the good guy...monster...thing is!"

"We can not allow the monster to destroy the other one...what if he's good?" Starfire added.

Raven, however, didn't see the need to discuss a plan of action. "Azarath metrion zinthos!" she cried out, and the energy she shot from her hands retrieved the four arms from the tentacles.

The four arm eyed the team suspiciously. "I could have handled that on my own. Did Ben send you here?"

"Who's Ben?" Beastboy asked.

* * *

Ben, Gwen and Kevin had been fighting aliens for hours on end, and they finally thought they were getting close to the end.

Ben wrestled the last remaining alien - a severely confused blue vulpimancer - down to the ground using his Swampfire form. The vulpimancer lost consciousness, and Ben was about to change back...when the trio heard a loud clapping sound.

They turned around to face a man dressed in black with a half black half copper mask.

"And here I thought if I was away from the Titans, there wouldn't be a hitch in my plans. Interesting..." he said.

"You looking for a fight?" Kevin demanded, punching his fist into his open palm.

"Oh no. Not right now," The man said, "Perhaps later, though. Yes...I may even be looking forward to it..."

As Ben started to move forward, preparing to attack the man, he ran into an alley way. The team followed him, only to find he'd disappeared.

"Who was that?" Ben asked.

"No idea," Gwen admitted. "...But we don't have time for him, anyways," she added as she pulled her rapidly blinking Plumber's badge from inside her sweater.

* * *

"Let me go!" the four armed alien insisted. "I'm one of the good guys. My team's on the other side of town....they find you messing with me, they're going to kick your butts…or lemme have a one-on-one with you guys, I'll take you down myself!"

"We don't know if your team's the good guys either. Besides, we'd kick your butts." Cyborg said to the aggravated monster. "Robin, what do you think?"

"I don't know," Robin admitted. "There's no way to tell what his intentions were. The other monster that got away seemed like a threat, too, but we can't be sure who the bad guy really was."

"I'm telling you," the four arms insisted again, "I'm not a bad guy. I'm not a monster, either. You're the ones running around with a furry midget!"

"Dude…that hurt my feelings," Beastboy insisted.

"Well, he does have a point there," Raven responded. "But jokes about Beastboy aside, you don't exactly look human to me."

"Hey! Let him go!" This time, it was two normal humans the Teen Titans faced. And another monster - this time one who seemed to be made of plants. It was the monster who was speaking now.

"Ben! Boy am I glad to see you," the four arms responded. "Not you, though," he added to the teenage boy who accompanied the monster. "Would you tell these jerks I'm on the good side?"

"Well? Aren't you going to let him go?" The plant monster asked.

"We still don't know if he's a good guy or bad guy," Beastboy tried to explain. "I mean, he may be the good monster, or the monster we let get away could be the good monster..."

"You let another potentially bad alien get away?" the boy asked incredulously. "How stupid are you people?"

"Look," The girl, a red head, said, "Let him go...or else."

"Or else what?" Raven asked, responding to the threat.

"This!" the girl said, her hands alight with a pink energy. It grabbed onto the four arms and ripped him out of Cyborg and Robin's grips.

"Thanks, Gwen," He responded. He pounded his metal hand into one of his other hands. "Time for a little payback…"

"Titans...go!" Robin ordered. As the other four Titans were about to engage the two monsters and other teens in battle, Starfire ran between the two groups and held her hands up.

"Friends!" she addressed the Titans. "Wait! These are Plumbers!" she said, indicating the badge on the plant monster's body.

"....they're....super powered toilet uncloggers?" Beastboy asked, blinking in his confusion.

"...You know about the Plumbers?" the plant monster asked, relaxing a bit.

"They are not the Plumbers of Toilet Repair," Starfire explained, "They are the Plumbers...they are guardians. They fight to protect. Some even visited Tamaran at one point, though we had no specific ambassador."

"So..you're an alien, too, then?" Gwen asked.

"Alien? Who's an alien?" Cyborg asked, trying to keep up. "What does plumbing have to do with aliens?"

"We ain't 'plumbers' in that sense. I thought she already made that clear?" The boy insisted. The plant monster was suddenly engulfed in green light, its form quickly shifting to a brunette boy with green eyes identical to the red headed girl's.

"Let's try this again," The boy said, placing a hand on his chest. "I'm Ben," He gestured at the other boy and at the girl, "That's Kevin and my cousin, Gwen. And this is Manny," he jerked his thumb at the four armed monster.

"I'm Robin...this is Starfire, Raven, Beastboy and Cyborg," Robin handled the introductions. "Sorry about all this, but...we have a big problem with monsters back home, and we've been getting reports that your town has them, too."

"They're not monsters," Gwen insisted. "A lot of people have alien ancestry and don't even know it yet....Ben and I didn't know we were a quarter alien until a few months ago, and Kevin and Manny are both half."

There was a loud squeal and suddenly Starfire was latched onto Gwen. "Cousin!" She responded. She studied Ben for a moment, then pulled him into the hug. "And my other cousin!"

"Uh...I don't think so. Ben and I are cousins, but...I think we've met all our other cousins," Gwen said, attempting to break free but finding this other redhead's grip far stronger than any human's she'd ever encountered.

"But....you are from Anodyne, are you not?" Starfire asked.

"...not...directly," Ben said, taking advantage of her distraction to get out of her grip. "Our grandmother was from Anodyne, though. Gwen and I are just a quarter...and I don't have any of those powers."

The response seemed to make Starfire absolutely giddy. She pulled Ben back into the hug and squeezed tightly.

"Star...what's going on?" Robin asked.

"A long time ago, there were two siblings....they fought terribly over power. One attempted to kill the other for more, and when her treason was found out, she was sent away. She started the planet Anodyne. The planet she was banished from was Tamaran," Star explained. "Our powers are slightly different, but our ancestry can be traced back to the almighty Glo'r'bork."

"Now that you mention it, you two do look a lot alike," Beastboy noted, looking Starfire and Gwen over.

"They do not!" Robin and Kevin snapped in unison.

"Dude, touchy," Beastboy said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyways...we've got things under control here," Ben insisted. "You guys should just go home."

"I don't think so," Robin said, his arms crossed. Ben studied the other boy for a moment.

"Gwen, Kevin...let's go." He insisted. Starfire relaxed her grip on the cousins and let them go. Manny followed after them.

"Why don't they want us here?" She asked Robin.

"I don't know...but we're going to find out."

* * *

"What are you doing here, Manny?" Gwen asked.

"The whole team's here. Your Grandpa wanted to see you guys. I think he feels that something's heading your way," Manny explained. "I was on my way to find you guys when I ran into the furball and then that team of teens."

"What was that about, anyways, Tennyson?" Kevin asked, eyeing Ben from the driver's seat using the rearview mirror. "Not like you not to accept help..."

"We don't know anything about them, Kevin, and they refused to believe Manny when he told them he was a good guy," Ben explained, staring out the window. "I understand wanting to be careful, but they took things too far there...why didn't they hold the other alien there, too?"

"They tried," Manny admitted, "But they were so concentrated on holding me that they couldn't keep us both down. I guess they figured I was the bigger threat, so they didn't take that loss too seriously."

"They suck at judging strength, then," Kevin said.

"You want a go around? I'll take you down right now!"

"Not now, guys. We need to focus on those 'Teen Titans'. I wonder," Ben continued, "what would have happened if we hadn't gotten there when we did?"

"I don't think they're bad guys, Ben," Gwen started.

"I'm not saying they are," Ben said, "I'm just saying.....what kind of heroes are they?"

**author's note**: Yeah, usually the Teen Titans are good heroes, but I think if they didn't know which of two guys was the bad guy, they'd try to hold both until they could get it figured out, and if they had to choose between which one to make sure they kept ahold of, they'd probably go for the one that seemed stronger. I think they took things a lot more seriously all the time....(well, maybe not Beastboy). Yeah, the Alien Force team is serious, but they are also trusting (except Kevin), and if they heard claims of "I'm a good guy", Gwen and Ben would try to at least get that person/monster/alien's side of the story and figure it out from there (while Kevin begrudgingly lets them). I think the Alien Force team has more heart, the Teen Titans team has more smarts. Hopefully that'll be obvious with the story as it goes along.I have no idea why I decided the whole "cousin" things between Ben Gwen and Starfire. I was just like "huh. Gwen and Starfire look alike. Both shoot things at people, though Gwen can grab onto things with her energy....what could make it so similar yet allow for the differences? Hmmm..." and thus that came about. It'll be explained a lot further in subsequent chapters.


	3. Team Up

**Author's note: **Sorry it took me so long to write! I can't even blame writer's block, as I have almost every angle planned out in this story (which is really weird for someone like me). Life got a little weird and writing at that time got pretty hard. So, my apologies. \

"Do we have to stick around? The toilet fixing guys are already on the job here," Beastboy complained, draping himself over an arm chair. The Teen Titans had checked into a hotel for the night, with the girls in one room and the boys in another, and he was talking to Cyborg as Robin worked. "So why can't we just go home? Or better yet, since Titans East are already watching the tower…maybe we could take a little vacation…"

"Japan wasn't that long ago. That was sort of a vacation," Cyborg pointed out. Beastboy shook his head.

"That wasn't a vacation. I'm talking Cancun. We'll go, you can run me on the beach and you can surf while I check out the ocean life…Raven can work on her tan," Beastboy joked.

Cyborg smirked at the idea, but said nothing, opting instead to grab a file off the bed and start flipping through, looking for leads..

"We're seeing this through, Beastboy. We're already here. Besides, it seems like these…plumbers could use our help," Robin was typing furiously into a laptop he'd brought along. "The amount of monster or…alien attacks in this city almost make home seem tame by comparison. I don't think they have the manpower to handle it."

"Manpower? We've got five people on our team, and our city's bigger than theirs," Cyborg pointed out, looking up from his file. "Three people should be more than enough."

"In our case, yes, but …maybe they're not well trained enough," Robin suggested. "I don't think they're handling it as efficiently as they could. There's probably a better way…maybe we could give them a hand with that."

"Yeah, cause I'm sure that tall guy would be just _so happy_ to hear you give him hero tips," Beastboy snorted. "Besides, these guys have like…galactic level cred. Even Starfire knew who they were."

"Just because they belong to that organization doesn't mean they're good members," Robin pointed out. "In fact, I've found a couple of files that look…odd."

"How odd are we talking?" Cyborg asked, getting up and standing behind Robin, peering over his shoulder at the lap top screen.

"Managed to find a database for the Plumbers…."

"Bet you had to get through a lot of ads for toilet repair, huh?" Beastboy asked. Robin glared at him, but ignored the question otherwise.

"It details some weird things in Bellwood from about five years ago. That kid we met…he said his name was Ben, right?"

"Yeah," Cyborg nodded.

"Well, if he's this Ben Tennyson this database is referring to…" Robin trailed off for a moment. "Five years ago, things started happening in this town. Right around the time he got back from a road trip with his grandfather and cousin. Then there were a few years where it was quiet again, but it says something about a High Breed, and then Ben's mentioned not long after it."

"You think he's causing the problems?"

Robin rubbed his chin, considering it. "Normally, I might believe that, but after meeting him…no. At least, not intentionally. There's more. The database keeps referencing something called 'the omnitrix'. It also says that it's in Ben's possession, but it doesn't mention what it does. There was a protection order…"

"Protection order?" Beastboy asked.

"On Ben. Apparently whatever the omnitrix is, it attracts the wrong sort of people."

"So what removed the protection order?" asked Cyborg.

"Don't know. It was removed within a few weeks of it being issued. And right here, where it says it was reactivated, it specifically says that no protection order is needed this time."

"And this means?"

"Hopefully that we can go home," Beastboy muttered.

"I'm not sure," Robin admitted. "For now, it means that they're not the bad guys, so we go ahead and trust them."

"So we _are _going home?"

Robin shook his head. "No. They may be good guys, but whatever this latest threat is, it's causing about ten new alien attacks a day. They're going to need our help."

"Latest threat…" Cyborg repeated. "You think there's someone behind this whole thing?"

"Yeah. I don't know who yet, but maybe Ben Tennyson will know. And we can help him get the threat taken care of. _Then _we'll go home."

* * *

"Do you hear that?" Upchuck asked, holding his head.

"No time to stop to listen to music, Tennyson, we're kind of in the middle of a fight here!" Kevin pointed out, delivering a punch to the stomach of the arachnichimp he was currently wrestling.

"But it's so loud…how come you can't hear it? Ugh…." Upchuck collapsed, pounding his fist against the pavement.

"Ben! Are you all right?" Gwen called, throwing another blast of energy at the alien form she was fighting.

Ben didn't answer. He changed forms, and sat up, looking around, clearly confused. "I don't hear it anymore…"

"Great. Now that the ringing has stopped for you, could you get over here and help?" Kevin asked, grabbing the arachnichimp by the tail and swinging him in Ben's direction. Ben chose Big Chill's form and froze the arachnichimp in midair before changing back to his teenaged self.

"Still another alien to fight!" Gwen pointed out. The monster she was fighting looked like a cow, but it kept lashing out its tongue, everything the tongue actually reached dissolved on contact. "Can't you turn back?"

"Something's wrong," Ben said, going through his omnitrix, trying to figure out what the problem could be. "I keep hearing this screeching noise…it hurts."

"I don't hear anything. Maybe you've finally lost it…what little you had," Kevin suggested, rushing over to join Gwen in her fight. He coated his hand with metal, but once again the cow-like alien whipped its tongue out, steam rising from Kevin's hand where it hit. "Ouch…" He shook his hand as though it would cool it, the metal disappearing entirely.

"Titans, Go!"

The forcefield Gwen had just erected around the alien turned black as Raven reinforced it.

"Cyborg, any ideas?" Robin asked.

"You'll have to knock him out…and from a long range. You got any sleeping powder on you?"

Robin nodded, and grabbed a boomerang from his utility belt. Raven and Gwen retracted their force fields just enough to let the boomerang through. It hit the alien and landed on the ground, breaking open the capsule. It fell asleep a moment later.

"Thanks for the assist," Gwen said appreciatively. She elbowed Kevin, clearly wanting him to follow her example.

"Which we wouldn't have needed if Ben hadn't turned into a wimp. What happened back there, Ben?"

"I just…kept hearing something. It hurt."

"Please, new friend," Starfire asked, "does it sound like the ringing of the ears? I agree, it is most unpleasant. I hear it right now as well."

"I don't hear it right now," Ben said.

"Does it only hurt in your alien forms, Ben?" Gwen asked. Robin clicked his fingers together. He and Gwen exchanged looks. "Do you think it has something to do with why the aliens are suddenly attacking so much?"

"Star said it hurts, too…but you said when we first met that you and Ben are part alien as well, and so is uh…" Robin tried to remember the other one's name.

"I'm Kevin."

"Right. Anyways, why would it hurt Starfire and his omnitrix induced forms but not your normal ones?"

"Maybe it's adjusted so you have to be pureblood to hear it," Kevin suggested, "Human ear design is pretty different from other planets. Haven't you noticed most of the aliens don't even have ears? Echo Echo, Big Chill, Humongousaur, Way Big….no ears. But they hear better than our species can. Our ears filter out a lot. It's not that hard for someone to rig an alien version of a dog whistle," he jerked a thumb towards Starfire, "her species looks enough like humans that her ears are built a lot like ours - in other words, she can hear it but it doesn't seem to be hurting her as badly

"I'm impressed," Gwen said, smiling at him.

"Hey, I'm not just good looks."

"You're not even good looks," Ben joked.

Robin looked irritated at the other team's lack of professionalism. "Look, we can joke around after whoever's behind this is locked up. What do you say to working together?"

Kevin laughed. "Are you kidding me? Ben here doesn't even say no to teaming up with bad guys, why would he say no to teaming up with heroes?"

Ben frowned. With villains, you knew to trust your back. You knew exactly where you stood. But he still couldn't tell what kinds of heroes the Teen Titans were. But they needed help. "All right. But we do things our way. Our team doesn't make sacrifices, and we don't kill any aliens we fight. Take em down, not out."

"Deal," Robin agreed. He reached a hand out to Ben. Ben hesitated a moment, and bit his lip. A few seconds passed before he finally reached out and shook Robin's hand.


	4. Complications

"Oh, and now the two groups of heroes are teaming up. How…sweet," Slade was perched on a rooftop, watching as Robin and Ben shook hands. "Well, eventually I planned to take out the Titans, so I guess certain parts of the plan will just have to move forward."

Deciding that sticking around would only get him discovered; he slunk off quietly while the teens were still distracted. So long as the Titans still didn't know he was there, he could figure out how to make their arrival work to his advantage.

* * *

"Man, your base is _tiny_!" Cyborg complained as he tried to force himself through the door. He got stuck about halfway through. "Uh…a little help please?"

Kevin roughly pushed him through. Cyborg landed on the floor, and grumbled insincere thanks in Kevin's direction. "This ain't a base, it's Tennyson's house."

"So…it's not a cloaking device," Beastboy said, looking around, "You guys really just work out of your house?"

"We don't all live here," Gwen responded. "This is just Ben's parents' place. I live with my parents and Kevin lives…."

"It doesn't matter, not like I'm going to invite 'em over for tea," Kevin snarled. "But no, we don't have a regular base. Tennyson's Grandpa is working on one, but it won't be done for a few months."

"We'll have to make do," Robin said with a shrug, setting up his laptop at the kitchen table.

"What's so great about where you guys live?" Kevin demanded.

"We live in a giant 't' shaped tower on an island," Beastboy explained.

"Lame!"

"A giant t-shaped tower with a state-of-the-art protection system. Check it out, I've got the specs right here," Cyborg said, popping open a section of his robotic arm and showing Kevin random blue prints that made no sense to Gwen, who also looked on.

"Impressive," Kevin admitted. "I think that could have car applications, if you did it right."

"Already have. We left it back at the motel, but the T-car is the smoothest, sweetest ride you could ask for."

"Maybe next to mine," Kevin insisted. "Or does _your_ car have up to level fifteen tech stashed in the trunk, with a signal scrambler to throw off even Plumber level tech scanners?"

"Dude, until yesterday I thought plumbers only fixed toilets."

Robin's grimace seemed to grow with every word. "Robin? Is something wrong? You have found the source of the terrible ringing?" Starfire asked, patting his hand. He shook his head fervently, typing in codes as fast as his fingers could possibly fly. "Then you are annoyed with not having the 'leads', yes?"

"I'm annoyed because no one seems to be taking this seriously," Robin muttered. If Starfire heard, she gave no indication. "Did we have to stop on the way back for smoothies?" This time, he directed it at Ben, glaring as Ben intermittently slurped on the straw, the noise harsh and grating.

"What? I was having a smoothie withdrawal. Want one? They're pineapple-grape-carrot-ginger-chocolate!"

Robin glared, but Starfire grabbed the smoothie Ben extended and gulped it down. "Glorious!"

"Wow. She's as weird as Ben," Kevin commented.

"So…you're a magic user?" Gwen asked Raven. Raven studied her for a minute, but nodded. "I am too. …I guess. Well, sort of. I can use magic, but it's only because I have an alien ancestor. Does that make sense?"

"Not even remotely."

Giving up, Gwen shrugged and backed off, deciding to opt to talk to Starfire instead. Robin began typing so hard on the keys that the talking stopped as the Titans and Ben, Gwen and Kevin stared at him, watching and listening.

"What?!" He yelled, finally looking up. "I'm doing what we came here to do," he turned his head towards Ben, "How your team handles things is your business, but could you stop distracting my team?"

"Dude, loosen up," Ben said, leaning back against the wall, "Kevin, Gwen and I saved the _universe_ before. I think we'll be able to handle whatever's going on with the aliens. Besides, all we've got to do is find the alien…dog…whistle thing."

"Loosening up isn't going to help us find anything! And even if you have the power to stop something, if you don't find what you have to stop, nothing gets done. It's like all your team does is goof off!"

"It'd probably do you some good to goof off from time to time," Ben insisted, "When's the last time you took that dorky mask off? Secret identities are lame, man. Who do you think you are, Batman?"

Robin started to respond, but the girls got between them. "Friends! There is no reason for this. We can all reach an agreement, yes?" Starfire asked.

"She's right. Ben, maybe Robin's got a point. Maybe we should focus on whatever's causing the disturbance. We can have fun later," Gwen added.

"That's a great idea, but uh….where'd Beastboy, Kevin and Cyborg go?" Raven finally asked.

Ben and Robin simultaneously face palmed. Gwen looked out the window, to see if they'd merely gone outside. "…Oh no. Kevin's car is gone."

"Maybe they went out to bring us back pizza?" Ben suggested.

"Ben, you and Robin should work on finding whatever's causing the disturbance, and maybe Raven could help you guys while Starfire and I go look for the guys," Gwen looked hopefully to Raven, who shrugged.

"Aww, man, why don't you stay and help? You're better with tech, anyways," Ben tried. Gwen shook her head, and leaned in and whispered.

"I know you're not too fond of Robin, but there's a lot he could teach you…besides, you don't have tracking powers, and the two team leaders need to work together. Just call it 'diplomacy'."

"I call it 'lame'", Ben said, crossing his arms.

"Call it whatever you want, but you're still doing it. C'mon, Starfire." The two redheads headed out as Ben sighed and stared at Robin's computer.

"Well, at least it'll be easier to work while it's quiet," Robin noted, handing Ben a cord. "Could you plug that in?"

"Aww, man, and now I'm a lackey," he grumbled, going to find an extra outlet. "Gwen owes me for this…"

* * *

"And you're sure Ben won't mind this?" Cyborg asked, looking around Kevin's car, feeling along the dashboard and smiling in delight with every new hidden button he found.

"I don't care if he does or not, we're gonna have a man-to-man race. I'd bet you anything my car will smoke your ride. But why's the green guy with us?"

"Because back there was boring," Beastboy said, sinking into his seat.

"I can respect that," Kevin agreed.

"Isn't your girlfriend gonna get mad?"

"Girlfriend? Who? Gwen?" Kevin pulled at his collar. "We're not exactly dating. We're uh…I don't know what to call it. But yeah, she's gonna get mad."

"Oooh, you're gonna be in trouble!" Cyborg said, chuckling.

"She's not the boss of me, I can do whatever I want. If I want to have a drag race, I'm going to drag race. She understands that I'm not hers to control."

"Do I now?" Kevin jumped. Starfire was flying along one side of the car while Gwen created bits of mana to run along beside it, just high enough to avoid oncoming traffic.

"Busted!" Beastboy and Cyborg chorused.

"Forgot I could track you, huh?" Gwen asked.

"Forgot you could track me," Kevin admitted.

"It's just a quick ride, and Robin's getting all…seriously scary. Could we just uh….do our own kind of investigation around the city? You know, you guys give us a tour and we try to uncover the…dog whistle," Beastboy asked.

"Alien dog whistle," Cyborg corrected.

Gwen contemplated it. "All right. Pull over, Kevin. We need to figure out who's going with who."

"Ooh! I wish to go with my new friend-cousin!" Starfire said, glomping onto Gwen and breaking her concentration. For a moment, Gwen started to fall, but Starfire reacted quickly enough, starting to fly again and dragging Gwen with her. Kevin pulled over nearby.

"I like the current arrangement. You two can bond together as girls or something, and I take Cyborg and Beastboy with me."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Kevin. "And you promise not to go racing?"

"Uhhh…."

She crossed her arms, and Kevin sighed. "All right, all right, no racing."

"All right. Turn your badge on, and make sure you keep your phone on, too. Let us know if you find anything. C'mon, Starfire."

"I am hungry. Please, where is your nearest hut of pizza?" Starfire asked. Gwen sighed, and lead the way.

"Are we really not going to race?" Beastboy asked, disappointed.

"Of course we still are."

"But…didn't you just promise Gwen you wouldn't?" Cyborg pointed out. Kevin smirked.

"I never actually said 'I promise'. It doesn't count."

"What kind of good guy are you?" Beastboy asked, laughing.

Kevin frowned. "It's a long story."

**Author's note: **I hope everyone caught the more subtle jokes….


	5. Suspicions

Ben drummed his fingers on the table, his head rested in the palm of one hand as he watched Robin work. From this angle, he couldn't see the screen, but he did notice Robin suddenly tense.

"What's wrong? Find something?"

Robin didn't answer.

"Robin? Earth to Boy Wonder?" Ben snapped his fingers, trying to get the other teen's attention.

"It's nothing," Robin insisted, going back to pounding at his keyboard. Ben shrugged it off, but he did notice Robin cast a meaningful side glance at Raven. Whatever he was trying to communicate to her, it made her excuse herself to go outside. After several minutes, when she came back all she did was nod to Robin, confirming whatever unasked question he'd had.

"You know, working together means we have to communicate. If you guys figured out what's causing the aliens to freak out, I'd really like to be in on it."

"We haven't figured that out yet," Robin said, once more returning to his computer monitor. Ben sighed.

"Last time I let Gwen talk me into staying behind," he muttered.

* * *

"_That_ is the car you think you're gonna beat me with?" Kevin laughed and smacked Beastboy on the back, good naturedly, jerking his thumb at Cyborg as he spoke. "Can you believe this guy? He really thinks that car's gonna take on mine!"

"Keep laughing," Cyborg shook his fist, but the threat was easily identified as a joke. "You ready to start?" Kevin nodded. "B.B., you start the race."

"But that's a girl's job!" Beastboy complained.

"Exactly," Kevin and Cyborg chorused.

Beastboy stood between the cars as Kevin and Cyborg hopped into their respective rides. Their engines revved as they waited for the signal, both trying to psych the other one out. Beastboy lifted his hands, about to start the race…when both his and Cyborg's transmitters went off.

"Ignore it!" Kevin called. Cyborg shook his head.

"Can't. Robin will just keep calling if we don't go. What if it's an emergency?"

"Then Ben would have called me, too," Kevin insisted. "We've got time, it's just one quick race."

"_Kevin_!" Gwen and Starfire had stopped in to make sure the boys were headed back. Gwen was not surprised to see that Kevin had talked Cyborg into racing anyways, but that certainly didn't mean she was happy about it.

"What? Ben didn't call," Kevin repeated. "So it's not that big a deal."

"Or maybe he figured that since we where both with the Titans it would be enough for just them to be called?" Gwen suggested.

"Okay, that's a possibility, too," he admitted. "C'mon, just let us try this one race, just this once. Please?"

Gwen's eyes narrowed into slits. Kevin seemed to deflate. "You're not going to let me, are you?" He sighed. "All right, all right. Get in the car. We'll go back to Ben and see what the problem is."

"Shotgun!" Beastboy called.

"Aren't you riding with Cyborg?" Gwen asked.

"He said I'm not allowed to change into a dog anymore because I drool on the seats," the green boy answered, chuckling.

"You can't do that in my car, either! Did you hear me?" Kevin called after Beastboy, who had indeed already turned into a dog and was sitting in the passenger's seat.

"I will ride with Cyborg," Starfire said, clapping her hands. "I have not had the shotgun in quite a while!"

"Yeah, great, everybody's happy," Kevin muttered, getting into the driver's seat as Gwen crawled into the back. "You ruin my interior and I swear we'll stop to have you neutered," Kevin threatened. Beastboy seemed to shake for a moment. "That's right, your squeaky little voice will get even higher."

"Kevin!" Gwen chastised. "We need to get going, we don't have time for you messing around."

"Fine…" Kevin sighed. "You know, sometimes I miss the old days…"

* * *

"Why did you call them back here?" Ben asked. "We still don't know who's behind the alien dog whistle, where it's at…we're right where we started. Calling them back is going to slow us down."

"I have a theory," Robin said, closing his laptop and studying Ben's face. He refused to say anymore on the subject, only insisting that he'd make himself clear when the others got back.

But their return made all hell break loose. The minute Kevin's foot was through the door, Robin threw a ball that opened midair into a net. It trapped the teen beneath it, and sent a surge of electricity through his body, just enough to make him pass out.

"What. Was. That?" Gwen demanded, the manna flowing to her hands. "We're on your side, and now you're attacking us?!"

Ben started to reach for his omnitrix, but Robin held out a hand. "You guys don't understand! Kevin E. Levin is a wanted criminal - there are still several warrants out for his arrest. They're on different planets, but I was reading his file and some of the things he's done…"

"We know all about that," Ben said, blinking. "Heck, I spent a lot of my summer after fifth grade trying to keep him from killing me."

"You…knew?" Raven's eyebrows went up.

"Well, yeah," Ben admitted. His nonchalance on the subject surprised the entire Titans team, but neither he nor Gwen seemed to see the problem.

"So you were completely aware that this was the same Kevin Eleven you used to fight?!" Robin asked incredulously, "And you just…trusted him? Just like that?"

"Eh, we had one fight the first time we saw each other after a while, but we worked things out," Ben explained. "Really, he's a good guy now. He did his time and everything."

"His collective crimes add up to about fifty years in jail!" Robin had his hands on his head now, trying to wrap his mind around the whole situation. "He doesn't look that old to me!"

"The Null Void is different than regular prison…a lot worse," Gwen offered. "He did his time there."

"How do you know you can trust him?" Robin insisted.

"We just know," Ben said, sharing a look with Gwen, who nodded her agreement. "If you can't accept that Kevin's on our team, then I guess we're not working together anymore."

"I can't risk that he's going to put the mission or my team in jeopardy," Robin admitted. "Titans…let's go."

"But…" Beastboy started. Robin paused, waiting for him to speak up. "What about Terra? She betrayed us, and we forgave her for it…What if he's like her?"

Robin considered. "He might be, Beastboy, but we can't take the risk that he isn't. We don't know him well enough to figure this all out. I'm sorry," He apologized to Ben, "But you understand, right? Team leaders have to make choices."

Ben nodded. "Yeah. I won't hold it against you…but just so you know, you're wrong."

"I hope I am," Robin admitted. "He'll come around again in a few minutes. Let's go, guys," he tucked his equipment under his arm and headed out of the house, the other Titans following.

"It was nice to meet you. Please, I will be dropping on you in the future, all right?" Starfire said before exiting.

"That's 'dropping _in_'," Cyborg's correction was half hearted. He closed the door behind him, the cousins both going to Kevin's aid now. Raven was the only one to think Robin was in the right, and normally the others would have called him out on it, but the mission took precedence over the new friends they'd made.

"I still think he's wrong," Beastboy whispered, just loud enough for Cyborg to hear. Cyborg nodded his agreement.

"Robin, Beastboy and I were with Kevin part of the afternoon. He didn't try to attack us and he was…friendly,"

"In a weird way," Beastboy added.

"Anyways," Cyborg continued, "I think you might be wrong about him."

"I could be, but for right now, that's not what matters. We need to find whoever's behind the aliens going rogue and put a stop to it. And it'll be harder if we don't know that we can trust our teammates," Robin insisted.

"I guess," Cyborg sighed. "But it still feels wrong…"

* * *

"I want my designs back," the man insisted again. Slade crossed his arms and turned his back to the man. "I designed this to take down Ben Tennyson, not so you could have some fun with aliens! What is your plan here, anyways?"

"Not for your knowledge, I'm afraid, my dear Doctor…Animo, was it?"

"That's right."

"Your machine is imperfect. So long as your prey can still return to his human form, it is easily beaten. My usage for it is much better…I'll tell you what, doctor, I'll help you get rid of your pest and in return you allow me the continued use of your machine."

Animo considered, before nodding. "All right. But what exactly are you doing?"

Even from behind the mask, it was clear that Slade was smiling. It made a shiver run down Animo's back (a much harder feat since he'd returned from the Null Void). "Sit down, Doctor. I'll explain the whole plan…and what else I need you to do for me."


End file.
